To guide its work during 2019, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 has adopted a comprehensive work plan.

Based on the Strategic Plan 2018-2021, the 2019 work plan establishes specific activities to be undertaken by the Teacher Task Force in order to achieve its goals: improving teacher quantity and quality.

2019 is the second year of the Strategic Plan. The main objective will be to continue strengthening the Teacher Task Force as a platform for exchange of knowledge and best practices, and as a dynamic network where members and partners are mobilized for dialogue and advocacy for teacher issues, in national, regional and global settings.

The Teacher Task Force will pay a balanced attention to the three main lines of actions laid out in the Strategic Plan, while focusing on priority activities likely to sustain evidence-based teacher policies and strategies.

MLA 1 – Advocacy

The Teacher Task Force will continue raising awareness on teacher issues by contributing to global and regional events. The aim is to ensure that discussion around the critical role of teachers remains high on the education agenda, and to advocate for adequate policies and increased financing of teaching.

This work will take various forms such as technical input to global fora of discussions, dissemination of material highlighting the importance of teachers for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education or organisation side events and debates during larger education focused conference or events.

MLA 2 – Knowledge creation and sharing

The Teacher Task Force will pursue its goal of bridging the knowledge gaps when it comes to teacher and teaching issues. This will include the undertaking of a mapping of the knowledge gaps on different dimensions of Teacher policy and practice, as well as research work on the state of teacher motivation, one the component of the teacher target in SDG4.

To facilitate the implementation and monitoring of SDG4, the Teacher Task Force will be involved in the development of a taxonomy of teacher training, along with UNESCO, UIS and GPE. This project will focus on documenting the nature of the training and the qualifications requirements countries apply in their national systems in order to improve the global comparability of data.

As it does every year, the Teacher Task Force will offer the platform of its Policy Dialogue Forum to policy-makers, researchers, academics to come share their best practices and learn from each other’s research and experiences.

MLA 3 – Country support

The Teacher Task Force will continue providing support for the start and continuing development of national teacher policies to its member states, but will focus on a limited number of interventions. Priority will be given to countries with which the Teacher Task Force has already been collaborating, using the full competency of the membership.

Governance

The 2019 activities will support the operationalisation of the regional and thematic groups established by the Strategic Plan 2018-2021. The aim will be to reinforce communication among the focal points, and to raise their awareness regarding regional SDG4 and education structures they should engage with, with institutionalised reporting and follow-up mechanisms

The foreseen activities will also serve to establish the thematic groups as technical expert groups in their domain by having them contribute technical inputs to wider events and/or undertake research projects.

You can download the 2019 work plan of the Teacher Force in English or French here for more information.

The International Task Force on Teachers for 2030 has just published its 2018 annual report. 2018 was the first year of the implementation of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030’s new 2018-2021 Strategic Plan.

Adopted during 2017 annual meeting, the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan reaffirms the Teacher Task Force dedication to ensuring that every learner is taught by a qualified and trained teacher, and that teaching is considered a valued profession.

The main goal of the Teacher Task Force over the next four years is to bridge the teacher gap by working to improve teacher quantity and quality. The Strategic Plan also sets out the objectives and main lines of actions (MLA) for the partnership to achieve this goal.

Three main lines of actions were identified: Advocacy, Knowledge creation and sharing, and Support to countries. This report gives a detailed overview of the activities and results linked to this framework.

MLA 1: Advocacy

The Teacher Task Force has been very active in ensuring teacher issues are put at the forefront of education talks.

In June 2018, the Teacher Task Force organised a Lab Debate during the European Development Days on “Female teachers and gender equality in gender education” that looked at the ways we can support women to enter and remain in the teaching profession. A very pressing issues given that 132 million girls are out of school and they are 1.5 times more likely than boys to be excluded from primary school.

In October 2018, the Teacher Task Force contributed to raising awareness on the fact that having a qualified teacher in front of every student is a staple of the right to education. Together with UNESCO, the TTF penned a blog entry on the Global Partnership for Education’s website. This blog ended being featured in GPE’s top 10 blogs of 2018.

We also created a series of partnerships with international entities, resulting in the MasterCard Foundation officially joining the membership, NORRAG coordinating a subtheme during the last Policy Dialogue Forum (PDF) and the Teacher Task Force joining the Advisory Group of the Education Commission’s Education Workforce Initiative.

MLA 2: Knowledge creation and sharing

In 2018, the Teacher Task Force has continued its collaboration with the World Bank and published six country reports using the Systems Approach for Better Education Results tool (SABER-Teachers). The reports published cover Singapore, Norway, Croatia, Slovenia, Namibia and Mexico.

Held annually, the Policy Dialogue Forum (PDF) is the Teacher Task Force’s biggest knowledge-sharing platform. The 2018 edition was held under the theme “Strengthening Teacher Education: A prerequisite for quality teaching, training and learning” and looked at teachers’ competencies and skills beyond basic education.

The 2018 PDF was marked by the first ministerial panel organized at a PDF. Two Ministers of Education (Estonia and Lao PDR) joined the host Minister and a representative of the Minister of Education of Togo, to present the reforms they are implementing in their countries to strengthen teacher education and training.

MLA 3: country support

In 2018, two countries, supported by the Teacher Task Force concluded their work on teacher policy development with the adoption of a national teacher policy.

Togo completed the elaboration of the teacher policy in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Teacher Task Force and the UNESCO Regional Bureau of Abuja. The Government has adopted a new legislation on the statute of teachers inspired by provisions in the Teacher Policy Development Guide. To the nine dimensions laid out in Guide, Togo has added a 10th one on “Social dialogue” as an enabling factor for the successful implementation of the policy. Printed copies of the policy were distributed to some participants at the PDF in Jamaica, and other countries of the region invited the Togolese national team for experience sharing.

After two years of support, Madagascar finalized its teacher policy officially endorsed by the Ministry of Education in March 2018 during a validation ceremony organized by the Teacher Task Force in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Bureau of Nairobi. Local Education Group members and Teacher Task Force members contributed to the review of the draft policy, which is now part of the broader framework of the sectoral plan for education 2018-2022 financed by the GPE.

You can read our 2018 annual report in English or French here.

The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (Teacher Task Force) is organizing a Strategy Lab during the upcoming Mobile Learning Week 2019. This year, the theme of the event “Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development” will look at the opportunities and threats linked to the use of AI in education.

Technology offers enormous opportunities to expand the scope of knowledge and the reach of education and to support various styles of learning. With the development of AI, teachers’ education and roles have to evolve to allow teachers to adapt to new learning environments and empower them to harness these innovations and use them in their day-to-day work.

 The Teacher Task Force is mobilizing its members, particularly those belonging to its thematic group on ICT and distance education for teacher development, to share innovative pedagogical approaches in teacher management and professional development methods designed to include the use of AI during a Strategy Lab taking place Friday 8 March from 9 to 11 am (Paris time).

The Strategy Lab will feature examples of projects currently using AI, as well the practical role AI can play in addressing the challenges faced by teachers, with o focus on education in emergencies settings. Can AI be an effective support tool for teacher? What are the main concerns with this? Will the use of AI help bridge the digital divide in terms of teaching or will it widen it?

We will also discuss the ethical and moral considerations of using AI to support teachers. Can AI be used to support teacher education and training? Should it be? Should we be concerned that AI could replace the teachers themselves? This discussion will also focus on the potential social impact of AI in education as well as the biases (racial, gender and cultural) that could be involved in implementing AI systems in education settings.

Our presenters will also broach the more practical side of AI use to support teachers. What technological means are available to quantify the feasibility of introducing AI in supporting teachers and teacher development especially in refugee settings? What type of costs and investments are needed and/or available?

Finally, this Strategy Lab will serve as a springboard to discuss the policy guidelines needed to encourage appropriate use and discourage inappropriate use of AI to support the challenges faced by teachers and teacher development in the 21st Century.

This year we will be joined by Professor Hamdy Abdelaziz, Program Chair at the School of e-Education from the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, UAE; Dr George Saltsman, Director of Educational Innovation in the Office of the President, Lamar University, USA; Dr Nicky Mohan, Managing Partner of the InfoSavvy Group and Director and co-founder of SpringBoard21; and Bijay Dhungana, Vice-President of the International Centre of Excellence for Innovative Learning (ICEFIL).

Held annually in Paris since 2011, Mobile Learning Week is UNESCO’s flagship conference on ICT in education. It convenes education and technology experts from around the world as well as provides the educational community, governments and other stakeholders a unique opportunity to discuss the role of ICT and new technologies in education and the achievement of Sustainable Education Goal 4.

You can find more information about Mobile Learning Week 2019 on UNESCO’s website: https://en.unesco.org/mlw

At its annual meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from 5-9 November, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 adopted a declaration focused on ensuring that teacher issues stay at the centre of the global education agenda.

Through this declaration, the Teacher Task Force reinforces its vision that at the heart of the right to education is a highly-valued, qualified, and well-trained teaching profession. It therefore recommends that:

• International partners should intensify efforts to develop robust definitions and classifications of qualified and trained teachers and strengthen cooperation and reporting mechanisms to ensure full monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal target 4c.
• Governments should ensure adequate financing for all public goods, including the teacher workforce, and this should be achieved primarily through domestic resource mobilization based on socially just fiscal policies, rigorous measures against corruption and illegal financial flows, efficient and effective teacher policies and deployment practices, developed with the full involvement of teachers and their organisations, and continued focus on external resource mobilization to complement domestic resources for countries.

Moreover, the dual focus of the Education 2030 agenda on equity and learning puts teachers at the heart of policy responses that should foster equal participation and learning globally. Teachers can be an impactful equalizing force to overcome unequal life chances from birth. The massive recruitment of new teachers, particularly in least develop countries, with little or no training is a real cause for concern.

The Teacher Task Force also expressed its concern over the fact that teacher education has not kept pace with preparing new teachers to face the rapid changes in globalization, migration, demographic change, and technological advances that will mark the future of education.

Furthermore, teacher education in this increasing complex world must be forward-looking and prepare teachers who are continuous learners themselves. It must enable teachers to think about the kind of education that is meaningful and relevant to young people’s needs in the different 21st century’s learning environment.

The Teacher Task Force acknowledges the ever-growing importance of Information and Communication Technologies in education. However, technology should be treated as a supportive tool for teachers and not a replacement. Teacher education should therefore empower teachers to use technologies to support learning within a holistic and human-centred educational framework.

The Teacher Task Force also called attention to the fact that teacher education needs to be seen as career-long education and special attention should be paid to the nature of teachers’ professional development, competency frameworks, curriculum development and professional learning communities/communities of practice. As teaching is a knowledge-based profession, teachers and trainers should be supported to continually update their knowledge base.

Through this declaration, the Teacher Task Force advocates for a teacher education that allows teachers to prepare learners to manage change and to be able to shape a just and equitable future, leaving no one behind.

You can download the full declaration in English, French, Spanish or Arabic here.

With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 4 on quality and inclusive education, and the dedicated target (SDG 4.c) on teachers, the education community recognized teachers as key to the achievement of the Education 2030 agenda.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day this year, we take this occasion to remind the global community that “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.” This theme was chosen to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which recognized education as a key fundamental right. A right that cannot be fulfilled without qualified teachers.

The right to a qualified teacher

A qualified teacher is commonly defined as a teacher “who has at least the minimum academic qualifications required for teaching their subjects at the relevant level in a given country.” Qualified teachers are fundamental to the right to education. However, this definition does not include the notion of trained teachers, defined as “teachers who have received at least the minimum organized pedagogical teacher training pre-service and in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country”. This results in teachers sometimes having the academic qualification required to teach, but not the pedagogical training, or vice versa. Some teachers even lack both academic qualifications and pedagogical training. In many low-income countries, there is a shortage of both trained and qualified teachers.

There is also a lack of data regarding the minimum requirements for pedagogical training among countries, and the existing differences are not well documented. Countries differ in regards to programme duration and curriculum content, extent of and quality of field experience (i.e., practice teaching), and availability and duration of induction and mentoring. For example, teacher education programmes can last from one to four years, may or may not include a period of supervised teaching practice, and may or may not require an academic qualification. Such qualitative differences in the training and qualifications of teachers affect instructional quality in the classroom and ultimately students’ learning achievement.

The impact of teacher shortage

One of the main challenges to this right worldwide is the continued shortage of teachers. There are an estimated 263 million children and youth still out of school globally, and according to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the world needs to recruit almost 69 million new teachers to reach the 2030 education goal of universal primary and secondary education. This ‘teacher gap’ is more pronounced among vulnerable populations – girls, children with disabilities, refugee and migrant children, and poor children living in rural or remote areas.

Teacher shortages are hampering efforts in many low-income countries to achieving quality, equitable, and inclusive education. To fill the teacher gap, countries resort to hiring teachers on temporary contracts who do not meet the training and qualifications requirements nor have proper professional status thereby increasing, rather than decreasing, the equity gap.

The equity gap is most pronounced in emergency and conflict-situations, where qualified teachers are in short supply. According to UNICEF, more than one-third of out-of-school children and youth globally live in conflict-affected areas -- 55% of whom are girls. In emergency contexts, providing migrant and refugee children with education is key to helping them cope with the new situation. But often, humanitarian agencies must recruit teachers with no preparation for responding to the complex needs of vulnerable children who have been forced to flee their homes because of armed conflict, violence or natural disaster.

A global event

This year, World Teachers’ Day celebration will spotlight teachers’ experiences in crisis and emergency contexts.

A global event will be taking place at UNESCO’s Headquarter in Paris on 5 October. The morning panel will showcase the policy issues and practical challenges of securing the right to education for children and youth living in difficult contexts. It will feature a presentation by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern Ireland to UNESCO who will speak about the new DFID education policy that puts a focus on addressing the teacher shortage, especially among vulnerable populations in developing and conflict affected countries. Experts from the Global Education Monitoring Report will present a few teasers from the upcoming Report on migration. Finally, the panel will showcase the work of a French NGO, “Groupement d’Educateurs sans Frontières”, who train retired teachers to work with migrant and refugee children.

In the afternoon, the Director-General’s opening address will be broadcasted live in Geneva to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Joint Committee of Experts on the Applications of the Recommendations concerning the status of teachers (CEART), which will meet in Geneva, Switzerland from 1-5 October. The award Ceremony of the UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers will take place after the formal opening ceremony.

Awarded every two years, the Prize is generously supported by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum through the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance. It amounts to US $300,000, which is equally divided between three winners whose projects aim at improving the performance and effectiveness of teachers in various regions of the world.

This year, the prize will be given to three programmes designed to improve teachers’ training and empower them: The Center for Mathematic Modeling of the University of Chile, the Diklat Berjenjang project (Indonesia) and the Fast-track Transformational Teacher Training Programme (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

The Ceremony will take place in presence of UNESCO’s Director-General, Ms Audrey Azoulay, and His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This Recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.

World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with UNICEF, UNDP, the International Labour Organization, and Education International.

World Teachers' Day 2018 webpage

The International Teachers Task Force on Education 2030 will host a Lab Debate at this year’s European Development Days. Titled “Female Teachers and Gender Equality in Education”, our debate will look into how we can support women to enter and remain in the teaching profession, as well as gender-responsive teaching methodologies for trainee teachers. This is in line with this year’s EDD theme “Women and Girls at the Forefront of Sustainable Development: protect, empower, invest.”

Although Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action provide clear guidelines to achieving universal and gender-sensitive education, girls still face more barriers in accessing education, and gender stereotypes are often reinforced in their educational experiences. Girls are still 1.5 times more likely than boys to be excluded from primary school, and half of out-of-school primary-aged girls are unlikely to ever enter school. Wealth disparities and the rural-urban divide further exacerbate barriers and vulnerabilities faced by girls, which increase as they get older.

Research suggests that female teachers have an important role in addressing access and quality issues in girls’ educational experiences – especially in places where women are discriminated against and under-represented in political, employment, and leadership positions.

This debate will explore policy, funding and civil society best practices in empowering women to enter and remain in the teaching profession and their role in providing a gender-responsive education to all children.

Our speakers include H.E. Paul Mavima, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education in Zimbabwe; H.E. Marie Odile Attanasso, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Benin; Mrs Teopista Birungi Mayanja, Regional Coordinator for the Africa Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA); and Mrs. Conceição da Glòria Sozinho, Director of ADPP Teacher Training College in Chimoio, Mozambique. They will share their experiences and lessons learned towards achieving gender parity in the teaching profession and gender-responsive teacher training.

The Debate will be held at in Room D1 on Wednesday 6 June at 09:00 am. For more information please go to https://eudevdays.eu/.

Achieving Education 2030 targets and commitments requires efficient and accurate systems to measure progress. International learning assessments are important contributions to the collection of cross-national data that can assess progress towards these targets.UNESCO partnered with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) on a joint report to exemplify ways in which data from a cross-national learning assessment can help monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4).

Measuring progress

Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) is an international assessment of reading comprehension at fourth grade level that has reported trends in student achievement every five years since 2001.

Using the data from the fifty countries who took part in the 2016 PIRLS, the report provides internationally comparative data and analysis on SDG 4 targets 4.1 on primary education, 4.2 on early childhood development, 4.4 on skills for work, 4.5 on gender equality and inclusion, 4.a on effective learning environments, and 4.c on teachers.

What did we learn?

The PIRLS data revealed that students have access to well-qualified reading teachers. In most countries and dependent territories, reading teachers held at least a Bachelor or equivalent degree. But there is variability both within and across countries and dependent territories. In some countries, large numbers of grade 4 students are taught by reading teachers reporting only an upper secondary education certificate as their highest level of formal education completed. Teachers’ levels of formal qualifications have implications for the quality of education provision. To improve teacher quality, countries can support teachers to upgrade their qualifications through needs-based professional development.

We also learned that formal teacher education does not adequately address specialized skills required to ensure reading achievement for all children. While nearly two-thirds of grade 4 students are taught by reading teachers who report having studied reading pedagogy or teaching methods specific to reading instruction, only 18% and 23%, respectively, of grade 4 students were taught by reading teachers who reported having studied second language learning and remedial reading instruction. This means that teachers may not be appropriately prepared to ensure inclusive and equitable quality learning for all. In countries where the classroom language is different from the home language, teachers with specialized training can help close reading achievement gaps.

PIRLS is a useful instrument for monitoring progress on SDG 4 targets and can be used to gain an in-depth understanding of the effects of policies and practices. By monitoring teachers qualifications and pedagogical needs, countries can make evidence-informed decisions, such as reforms to improve initial teacher education and how best to allocate resources for teachers’ professional development based on needs.

The joint UNESCO-IEA booklet can be accessed here and the full PIRLS 2016 results can be accessed here.

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The Teacher Task Force’s Mobile Learning Week workshop was a resounding success with high participation. Nearly 55% of the participants who took our workshop survey indicated that the presentations made by our members were very useful.

Participants to the Teacher Task Force’s Mobile Learning Week workshop were also invited to take part in a survey designed by our colleagues from UNESCO IITE to allow us to better understand attitudes toward ICT competency for transformation of teaching and learning.

93% of the survey respondents agree that a new model of a teacher for Education 2030 will be based on the ICT competencies.

For 38% of respondents, the divide in qualifications of teachers who lack opportunities to acquire basic ICT literacy skills, low motivation for the use of ICT in professional daily experience and the lack of ICT and internet connection are the most important reasons for the gap in ICT application by teachers nowadays. This gap could be explained by the absence of available pedagogical resources, relevant curriculum, teaching/learning materials for 35% of the respondents.

45% of the respondents indicated that carrying out online trainings was the best way to support teachers and school leaders in ICT applications.

96% of respondents agree that online trainings will be a necessary part of teachers’ professional development in the future. However, it was also underlined that online training should be viewed in a holistic approach, including the need for technical support (hardware, software, teacher-oriented) to make online trainings work. Online guidance/mentoring was also highlighted as a way to ensure online trainings completion. The experience described by Mr. Mathieu Lacasse in the Camara Learning Academy was cited as a good example of such an approach by a participant.

The presentations made during our workshop can be downloaded on this page. 

The Teacher Task Force would like to thank the members who came to present their projects. The TTF would also like to thank the people who came to take part in our workshop.

How do the top-ranked countries in education achieve outstanding school performance? What are the reasons behind the rise of their school performance? This was the discussion subject of a conference organized by the Permanent Delegation of Argentina to UNESCO in March. As teachers constitute one of the key elements behind students’ and schools’ performance, a large focus was put on discussing what makes a good teacher. Experts from around the world gathered to share their countries’ perspectives on how to train teachers, analyse their performance and motivate them. 

Teacher training: what type and for how long?

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics defines a trained teacher as a “teacher who has fulfilled at least the minimum organized teacher-training requirements (pre-service or in-service) to teach a specific level of education according to the relevant national policy or law.” However, there is no universal agreement on what being a trained teacher means or what the minimum requirements to qualify as a teacher are.

Experience from top-ranked education systems, though, shows consistent patterns regarding teacher training and education. They all normalized pre-service training as a university course sanctioned by a degree, some of them even requiring having obtained classroom experience prior. Dr Huihua He, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, College of Education - Shanghai Normal University, indicated that it takes the completion of a four-year programme followed by one-year in-service training to become a qualified teacher. It is impossible to practice as a teacher in Shanghai without this certification.

She also underlined the importance of providing students with information and guidance on professional development. The university, to this end, integrated a “teacher professional development” course into other courses so that students have an understanding of the career ladder.

Should teachers be evaluated?

Another aspect of ensuring students are taught by good teachers is through evaluation. Ms Sonia Guerriero - Senior Programme Specialist, UNESCO – stated that teacher evaluation is necessary, as they need to keep their knowledge up to date on theory and practices as well as develop knowledge on new skills needed. Performance evaluations can be used to identify areas where teachers may need additional training.

However, there is an ongoing debate regarding what means can be used to determine a teacher’s performance. Is it through the evaluation of the students learning outcomes or through teacher evaluations?

There are several arguments against the use of students’ learning outcomes as the only means of teacher evaluation. Indeed, there are several factors that can affect students’ test scores outside of teachers’ performance, such as parental support, resources, curriculum content, and learning materials. Children’s economic and social background also play a role in their learning achievement.

Mr Hong Joon Chae – Director of the Education Budget Division, Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea – indicated that, in Korea, teachers in primary and secondary education are evaluated every year. This evaluation includes both a performance evaluation and an expertise evaluation to determine their knowledge on the subject they teach. It also includes an evaluation of the classroom climate and the teacher’s attitude.

Ms Guerriero debated that a more effective means of teacher evaluation would be to use classroom observation with mentoring and feedback by peers. Through observation, the focus can be placed on instructional practice, on-the-spot decision making, maintaining high-functioning and nurturing classrooms, content focus and depth of instruction. Evaluations can also include peer reviews of teaching through interviews and analysis of videotaped instruction. Indeed, teachers are not only there to share knowledge with their students but to also develop their skills.

Evaluation, especially through peer reviews, can also influence classroom practices, through informal in-service training. In Japan, for instance, there is a strong culture of seniority, with mentoring of younger teachers within schools. This includes evaluation of those young teachers’ performances by senior teachers, leading to teachers learning from and supporting each other.

Impact of incentives on teachers’ performance

Mr Chae underlined that, in Korea, teachers are very well paid. Indeed, teacher pay in Korea is higher than the average calculated based on OECD countries. Therefore, it is not a crucial variable for improving teachers’ performance. He noted that amongst surveyed teachers, autonomy in the classroom and professional development opportunities were indicated as affecting teachers’ performances.
This is also the case in Finland, where an important emphasis has been put on teachers’ autonomy. Indeed, Ms Jaana Palorjävi – Director, International Relations, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland – explained that a lot of leeway is given to teachers in how to organize the school day, based on a skeleton framework provided to them.

It was also noted that teacher development programmes should focus on allowing teachers to go further than transmitting knowledge. Dr Makito Yurita – Senior Researcher, National Institute for School Teachers and Staff Development, Japan – described the teacher as a learner, a thinker and an enquirer. He also further explained that as teachers are not just preparing students for the job market but also preparing future citizens, they should be encouraged to participate in discussions on the goal of education.

Download Workshop proposal for Mobile Learning Week 2018

The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (Teacher Task Force) is organizing a workshop during the upcoming Mobile Learning Week 2018. This year, the theme of the event “Skills for a Connected World” will examine the types of skills needed in and for a connected economy and society, with a focus on digital skills and competencies. It will also review strategies and ways in which these skills can be delivered and assessed within the context of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).

The Education 2030 Framework for Action underlines teachers’ key role in achieving SDG4. However, to increase access and improve the quality of education, new models of teacher professional development are required. With the ever-changing demands for the workforce’s qualifications and the apparition of new skills needed, teaching and teacher training/development have to build on successful uses of ICT to improve learning. Teachers have to adapt the way they teach to focus on skills required for an increasingly connected world, skills teachers also need to understand and possess.

The Teacher Task Force is mobilizing its members, particularly those belonging to its thematic group on ICT and distance education for teacher development, to share innovative pedagogical approaches and teacher management and professional development methods based on ICT use. The workshop will feature examples of responses to the new ICT-based educational environment and will offer the opportunity to question the models of emerging approaches and practices for teaching and learning. It will collect feedback on the potential for scaling up the examples presented and their replicability to other contexts.

Five projects related to the demands for new ICT competencies of the 21st century teachers, barriers faced by teachers and the role ICT can play to overcome them and facilitate the teaching and learning process, planning main stages of ICT competency development for teachers, and approaches to online teacher professional development will be presented:

• Camara Learning Academy, Camara Education
• mproving ICT competencies of teachers in remote area schools, Indonesia
• Digital solutions for 21st century teachers and learners, Weidong Cloud Education Group
• ICT in the system of professional development of teachers. A look into the future, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
• The P4R EMIS.Education App, JET and Program4Results

The workshop will enable participants to consider several models of teacher ICT competency development, and compare and discuss existing approaches and online training platforms. It will also enhance their understanding regarding the necessity of the ICT competency framework for teachers, to ensure teachers have the required skills to adapt to both an ICT-based education system as well as understand the skills learners need to develop.

The results will be used by the Teacher Task Force’s working group to pursue its action towards the increase of qualified teachers and the improvement of teaching for better learning outcomes.

More information on Mobile Learning Week 2018 is available on the UNESCO dedicated website.